Goooooooood morning mudders

[Shaggy]

Hi guys and girls, im Nat and im up in Leyland, Lancashire.

As strange as it sounds the Vauxhall Frontera has always been one of those 'Dream cars' for me. I love its big, boxy, almost American looks. Despite that want for playing in the mud again (I once owned a Suzi.... kinda embarrassed to admit it was a Vitara Fatboy, albeit a lifted and kitted one, but still a hairdressers car lol) I've pretty much owned nothing but lowered VW's for the last 10 years. After a recent camping trip up to Kielder forest with the car loaded 4 up, full of camping gear and 5 bikes the wife happened to mention that she wanted a 'bigger' car.... so I knew now was the time

As soon as we got back I went to look at a few Fronteras, the odd Disco and even a Rav4. I'd been warned off looking at 'used and abused' 4x4's and was told to get a stock one and then we'll add the wheels/lift/etc/etc as and when.... and then this one came up on a local 4x4 facebook page and I was sold!

Tbh its not perfect but we absolutely bloody love it




First (of many?) fuel stops lol

Sadly the drive home was an eventful one.. as I pulled out of the petrol staion the EML light came on, no dramas... that is till I stopped at a set of lights only to see steam billowing out from under the bonnet. Pulled over and sure enough she'd cooked herself up, boiling out of the expansion tank Let it cool, checked under the filler cap, sniff test, looked at the dipstick and everything seemed ok. Turned the key, nothing!?!?!?! At this point I could have cried, how do I tell the Mrs ive brokedown, miles from home, after selling our car and buying a 2 tonne kettle We were about to tow it back and thought, lets bump it... worth a shot? Sure enough she fired up and drove home.

Soon as it was home I set about cleaning it up, nothing like getting your prioritys right lol. It took me 3 hours to steam clean the underside although tbf an hour of that was cleaning the drive/road... I'm very popular with the neighbours at the min haha

Plugged her into the diagnostic thingy and it came back with 3 faults, MAF sensor, o2 sensor and crank sensor. Thankfully nothing serious











I've got a 2'' body lift kit to go on but I've still a few jobs to do first, handbrakes seized and it still keeps boiling itself up (I suspect its just an air lock and not the dreaded 2.2 HG ) and I've yet to change the crank sensor but overall, I bloody love my truck

If you see us out and about don't be shy, give us a friendly toot and a wave

[RatCav]

Wotcha .. just down the road from me as well.

[bhcalcutta]

Welcome to the family.... not far from me either

after selling our car and buying a 2 tonne kettle

[stretch]

welcome to fog, many mile from me ha

[frontster]

And even further from us, hello and welcome.

[Retro Pedro]

Welcome aboard Shaggy
Don't want to dampen your bonfire, but the 2.2 Vauxhall petrol engine does have a reputation for blowing head gaskets. Have you got oil/coolant contamination mayonnaise?

[Shaggy]

Thanks for the welcomes chaps

I whipped the thermostat out yesterday and found it is infact goosed and not opening Previous owner(s) had chewed the Torx head on the bottom bolt so I had to puddle weld a 12mm nut on top to wind it out so I didn't have enough time left to pop down to the motorfactors and pick up another. Threw it all back together and went out for a play without the stat' ... sadly it started to boil up again after about 6 or so miles

Now its either A. Because the waters flowing to fast through the rad and not being cooled enough or B. Because the HG's gone

Gotta put the new stat' in later and drop the oil, looking under the cap and on the dipstick there isn't any contamination but im wanting to give it an oil change anyway.

[RatCav]

Hmm ... I would be pricing a new Headgasket and head bolts tbh.

While there doing the cam belt at the same time. Is the waterpump pushing water around the system. You should see the coolant flowing into the expansion tank.

[Shaggy]

Its had a new HG replacement and cambelt fitted in Oct last year, but from what I've read the 2.2s need the HG changing once a month haha

So far its had,

Thermostat
o2 sensor
Crank sensor
MAF
Idle control valve
Throttle position sensor

Im not expecting to win any traffic light drag races but my word its gutless low down, is this normal?

Also, and im quite worried by this.. the oil pressure guage is all over the place. It reads normal when first started but then drops right off (As in no reading as opposed to in the red?) and has a tendency to fluctuate

I don't want to admit it but, I think I fell in love with its looks and bought a lemon

[RatCav]

Compression test and sniff test would be a good place to start .. does the coolant pressurise at all?

[Shaggy]

That's all it seems to do mate tbh.

Went down to motorsave earlier (When I saw you... twice) but they'd ordered the wrong one. Gonna pop upto ECP later

I'm honestly thinking its the HG

[RatCav]

Yup .. saw you as well. I was looking for some o'rings for the g/f's Ford Explorer.

Even though the H/G was replaced, if the head is cracked then it isn't going to do much.

I would get that compression test and sniff test done buddy.

[Shaggy]

(Edited as I was rushing out earlier)

Happy as a pig in poo right now

This morning I'd had enough, I really thought I'd bought a lemon and even started browsing eBay looking to see what I could recover if I cut my losses and broke it. So much so I'd seen a Terrano not a million miles from us and was shaking the kids piggy banks and frantically looking down the back of the settee for lost gold coins I started randomly pulling the fronty to pieces and happened to notice 'a little bit' (As in about 3kg) of dried mud completely blocking the rad and oil cooler fins... and I saw a glimmer of hope, well, I would if it wasn't for all the mud lol. Took them both out, gave them a blast with the jet wash, refitted them and a new stat' and touch wood everythings good and well Thank fk it wasn't the dreaded HG

[RatCav]

bleeding hell ... I am so glad I was so wrong. Had visions of swapping an engine out.

See you around buddy.

[Shaggy]

It's mine and the wifes wedding anniversary and I was already in the dog house as we were supposed to be going away for a long weekend but what with the frontys overheating issue we reluctantly had to cancel. So to redeem myself and get back in her good books I thought I'd treat her to a 'date' at the pictures and a nice meal out... just so happened we went to Middlebrook, a stones throw from a few gentle byways up and over Rivington, and she happily suggested we should see how 'Dorothy' performs, happy days! Now understandably I didn't want to let her down so I didn't kick up to much of a fuss and off we went lol

We did 65 mixed miles tonight and happy to report that she didn't let us down once

[Retro Pedro]

It'll be interesting to hear what the Lancs Pennines have got to offer in the way of byways. I know the scenery is fantastic up there but if there's plenty of open byways must be great to get in amongst it in the truck.
We've got lifelong friends that live in Chorley, so I'm dreaming that I can talk the wife into going up in the truck next time.
Even more dreaming, take a week and go the scenic route. Start off in Kent, make our way over to Surrey, off the tarmac in that area up to Oxfordshire (pop in and see the daughter). Across the Cotswolds to South Wales, up through Wales, drop back to the Peaks, up through the Peaks up to Lancs. Food for thought and alot of research on the O.S. maps.
I think the answer will be 'I'll go on the train and see you in a weeks time', but what a trip.

[RatCav]

I am up for joining you on that Pete. Thing is you sound like you know the area better than me lol.

[Retro Pedro]

I am up for joining you on that Pete. Thing is you sound like you know the area better than me lol.

Our friends moved back to Lancs 30 odd years ago. Our friends are both qualified school teachers and moved down to Kent when Jeff got a posting at one of our local secondary schools. Alison couldn't get a posting and she ended up working with my wife in the accounts department of a local insurance company. Start of story. Then came to the point where they wanted to buy a house and couldn't get anywhere near the asking prices down here, hence them moving back to Lancs (Alison was originally from Preston). We've been doing our bi-annual visits either way ever since, hence me getting to know a few of the beauty spots and good pubs at the time. In the 80s, before the all seater stadiums and turn up and pay at the turnstile, I used to go to Old Trafford and stand on the Manchester Road end whilst Jeff went off to play rugby for Chorley. Used to join up afters for the customer social drinks with the rugby boys happy days. Last time we were up was our friends daughters wedding, stay at the hotel at the bottom of the hill where you turn off the M6 to Preston - Tickled Trout of something. Reception was in the country park the other side of the M6 junction. Buildings were on platoons in the middle of the lake.
So getting back to Lancs Pennines scenery, it's the shear size and heights. Rivington Pike distances that can be viewed on a clear day, Trough of Bowland and Clitheroe areas and that's before you start venturing over to Yorkshire via the scenic routes. Never done any off roading up there, hence me being all hears to see what's on offer in your own back yard.
Done the scenic tarmac routes before now going up through Oxfordshire and then the Peaks going up over Snake Pass. Not to be done to often because it makes a 3-4 hour journey into a 6-8 hour run.

Apologies for hi-jacking post Shaggy but just doing the nostelger bit with green eyes knowing what you guys have got in the way of scenery.

[Shaggy]

Absolutely no problem at all Retro Pedro If you go back to Brockholes (The floating buildings) just make sure you don't forget to pay the parking charge on-line like I did... an hour on the park with the kids turned into an expensive day out, I got stung with a 50 charge

Couple of pics from today, just because




Ignore the snapped tent pole lol

[Shaggy]

Thought I'd get a good front end shot of our truck whilst it was still clean... although I didn't see what the wife thought about it till after I'd uploaded the photos It's all good though as I was going to take her for a posh meal and all she wanted to do was use that money for petrol and go laning



Started cleaning the threads on the chassis bolts today, will be soaking them in WD40 daily and should hopefully have my lift kit on next week.... However... I think ive found them all but how many are there in total and where abouts are they? (LWB) I've read that the 4 at the back are captive and are a real pain to get to from the inside? Not gonna lie, im kinda scared of snapping those :O Also, a few threads I've read have said that nothing needs to be modified to fit a 2'' lift except the bumpers and the radiator cowl yet some mention steering, fuel lines, wiring etc.

I've looked everywhere but I can't find a diagram showing where all the mounts are